


Leaves Wreckage Where It's Blown

by summerwines



Category: Gravity Falls, ParaNorman (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reverse Falls, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mental Breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 05:03:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5572030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerwines/pseuds/summerwines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Norman can wallow in regret all he wants, but that is not going to stop the other Dipper from coming into their world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaves Wreckage Where It's Blown

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a gift for moosepantsonfire for the SSParapines Holiday Exchange. I chose their first prompt, which was: “Dipper and Norman running into Rev!Dipper from the Reverse Falls AU.” I started writing this and it kind of got away with me (which is probably an understatement). Hope you enjoy it! And happy holidays to everyone in the fandom :3

++

This will be the very first time he has heard from Dipper after both of them left Gravity Falls. The letter is sealed in a blue envelope. It has been sitting in his study for a week. Today, as the red and yellow leaves start falling from all the trees, Norman decides to open it and read while he sits on his balcony.

 

_“Dear Norman,_

_I’ll have you know that this stationery is gaudy and yellow because I swiped it from my sister. I did not go all the way to the bookstore to buy this. But all of that is irrelevant._

_A lot’s happened during these months that we haven’t seen each other. I’ve moved in with Mabel in a new apartment just a month ago. Plus, I just found out my parents sold our old house. They’re retiring, apparently. They dropped off boxes full of my things and Mabel’s just the other day, right before they dropped the bombshell. I still can’t believe it._

_I’ve gotten a job at a high school, teaching advanced physics. My students give me headaches every day, but I still think it’s really fun? I’m not exactly sure if I’m very well liked or anything, but it’s fun knowing that I’m bringing some good into the world, if that makes any sense._

_Mabel thinks I should quit the job. She thinks it isn’t good for my sanity. But I don’t really see any problem. Do you? I wanna know what you think._

_I’ve started writing again, too. Though I already know what you think about that. I just can’t leave my research just because of what happened. It’s not an option for me._

_But please feel free to tell me whatever objection you have to anything I do. Tell me anything. It doesn’t even have to be about my job, or the writing. It’s just been too long since I’ve heard from you. I know it’s something we both decided on, but it’s driving me nuts, right._

_I bet you’re angry with me right now for breaking the deal. But I just couldn’t help myself._

_Talk to me, please._

_Sincerely,_

_Dipper”_

 

++

 

The past will forever nag him.

Norman stands in the middle of the town, as everyone retreated to the safety of their homes. The sky is pitch black, and then it isn’t. It turns into an electric blue. Norman stands and glares at the Dipper in front of him, a man dressed in the same color as the sky. The eyes of the Dipper in blue are green and menacing.

The wind is in Norman’s eyes, but he is determined to focus. All around him, the ghosts start to appear and in front of him, the Dipper in blue glowers, fists clenched tight and glowing.

“You’re going to regret you ever came here,” Norman says. And the ghosts start making noise. The Dipper in blue is taken aback. Norman knows that he’s defeated him. Surely, he will fade.

 

++                    

 

The past, indeed, has a way of reaching into you and pulling out your heart, bloody and raw. Norman remembers: Dipper set a fire to the shack. Outside they both stand and Norman notices that Dipper has been staring at the fire in awe. Later, Norman cannot help his tears when he has to sit in the waiting room of a hospital, because Dipper lost consciousness as the house burned to its cinders. He waits and he waits, and when Dipper wakes up, there are only bits and pieces that have stayed in his memory.

They move into the shack when they are both twenty-three. Dipper wanted to finish a research on parallel worlds, which has been passed on to him by his Great Uncle Ford. Norman tags along in order to assist him.

“You really didn’t have to do this,” Dipper tells him once. They are at the basement of the shack. Norman reads through a number of Ford’s notebooks, trying to make sense of his ideas. Dipper is writing something down on a hardbound journal when he says this and he doesn’t meet Norman’s gaze. He continues to write as Norman brushes off the comment.

“C’mon, you’re my best friend,” Norman says, even though it’s more than just that.

When Dipper decides that he should rebuild the portal, Norman invokes the same thing.

“As your best friend, I’m reminding you _yet again_ that this is a horrible idea,” Norman says. He holds on to the toolbox and pulls out a wagon of metal while Dipper works on the machine.

“Truly!” the ghost of a woodsman says, as he floats near Norman’s figure. 

“Doesn’t he remember what happened the last time?” says another ghost, this time of a man in a lab coat.

“I know it is,” Dipper says, as he stands atop a ladder, putting together the upper half of the portal.

“Then why are you doing it?” Norman says.

“Indeed, why!” The man in the lab coat circles around Dipper and closely examines Dipper’s progress. 

“Because I know now what went wrong before!” Dipper’s hands fly up to the air and the ladder shakes. He continues to speak as he handles a screw – “You know that Bill Cipher, Norman? Well, he won’t bother me anymore. I know that for a fact. This portal, Norman—This portal is going to lead to worlds very much like our own. Not like Bill’s. We won’t have another Armageddon.”

That is what Dipper says, but a month later, he burns down the house and Norman is sure that the portal has something to do with it.

 

+++

 

He only becomes sure, however, when he first meets the Dipper in blue. 

One Sunday night, as Norman sits on a park bench outside the hospital to eat his sandwich in peace, he notices that the moon has turned bright blue. The ghost of the woodsman has followed Norman all the way here, so he’s the first one Norman gets to ask. 

“What happened to the moon?” Norman’s eyebrows furrow and he puts down the sandwich. 

“Something tells me this is the work of the beast of the woods!” the ghost exclaims. 

Norman sighs. “I don’t know about that,” he says. 

Dipper’s room is dark when Norman returns. It’s dark except for the blue light coursing through the window.

“Dipper?” Norman looks around the room and sees nothing.

“I’m right here,” a voice goes, and then suddenly, the light switch is turned up. 

With the flash of light, Norman is confronted with the sudden appearance of Dipper a mere few inches away from him. The door slams to a close. Dipper smiles. The birthmark on his head is glowing bright blue. His clothes have also changed – no longer in the hospital clothes but in a blue coat and a white frilly shirt.

He cups Norman’s face. “Hm,” Dipper says. “What a nice face you have here. But I still don’t see what all the fuss is about.” 

“W—What—?”

Dipper sighs. “It’s a shame I’ll have to kill you soon enough.”

Norman pushes him away.

“Who the fuck are you? And—what did you do to Dipper?” 

The Dipper in blue tries to slick his hair back, but fails. He sits on the hospital bed. Norman starts to feel cold. The air around this person is sinister, almost like an evil spirit. The way this Dipper crosses his legs, the way he pulls on his coat and runs his hands on his shirt to flatten it – All of it is prim and proper. But Norman can see the darkness shrouding this person, who is not the Dipper he knows. 

“I’m not yet ready to explain every single thing,” he says, with a smirk. “And I’m disappearing in a few moments, so I’m guessing I won’t have time to.” 

“Disappearing? What? You’re not making any sense.”

“I’ll be taking permanent residence in this body pretty soon. You just have to wait. I have to thank you, you know, for your painstaking efforts to bring me into this world. Even though your shit portal didn’t work, it helped me pull a few strings. But, oh—“ Dipper extends his arm forward, and Norman sees tattoos, all of which seem to be fading. “It’s starting. You’ll see your little friend soon enough.”

The tattoos, the clothes, the blue glow on Dipper’s forehead, the blue glow from the moon: It all disappears. A Dipper in a hospital gown replaces it all. Norman rushes to him before he collapses forward. He embraces Dipper tightly.

“Norman?” Dipper goes, the sound of his voice barely audible.

“Shh, there’s no need to talk,” Norman says. He hugs Dipper and plants his nose in Dipper’s hair. Norman’s eyes stay wide open.

Dipper is shivering. Norman caresses his back and tries to calm him down.

“So cold,” Dipper says.

Norman holds him even closer. This is the Dipper he knows, not that man shrouded in darkness. Dipper continues to shake, and Norman knows he should call a doctor. But just for a moment, he wants to try and be the one to fix everything.

 

++

 

The morning after, Norman asks Dipper to explain. Though he doesn’t expect Dipper to provide much explanation, it seems that Dipper knows more than he’s let on.

“You _what_?”

Dipper lowers his head and tries to hide his face. He’d just told Norman that he knew of this other Dipper, who had come from a parallel world. It had been weeks since this Dipper started trying to take over his body. As Dipper tells Norman the story, he bends his knees against his chest and sags against the wall.

“You’re probably going to ask why I didn’t tell you, right? Well I’ve been thinking of telling you Norm, but it just never felt right. And I didn’t want you to get involved.”

“But I could’ve done something!”

“No, you couldn’t have. The door was opened. All he needed to do was push. You couldn’t have stopped him, not with all the ghost magic in the fucking world.”

“I could’ve at least tried.”

The room is silent after this. The days that follow remain this way, as Norman knows not what he should do to stop anything from happening. But he does stay by Dipper’s side and he helps him when he’s finally allowed to leave the hospital. Since Dipper refuses to contact Mabel or his parents so they can pick him up, Norman and Dipper stay at a cheap motel. They do not speak to each other, except for _Good morning’s_ and _Good night’s_. Dipper watches TV, looks out the window, reads, sleeps, and does nothing else. It hurts Norman’s heart to wait.

Nothing has happened so far, but he thinks there might be something occurring in Dipper’s head. Never has Dipper stared so much into space for all the time that Norman has known him. Norman can only hope that Dipper is trying to fight and that he will prevail in the end.

“I’m cold,” Dipper finally says, one day. It startles Norman and makes him fear for the worst. The last time Dipper complained about the cold, he’d just fallen out of a dark trance.

Dipper is trembling on his bed. After Norman gives him a glass of water and something to dull the pain, they lie down together, Norman holding Dipper from behind. “Hey, hey,” Norman says. “I’ll warm you up. Don’t worry.”

“I feel him taking over.” Dipper continues to shake in Norman’s arms.

“No he is not. I won’t let him.” Norman hugs Dipper tight and brushes Dipper’s hair with his fingers.

Dipper breathes heavily. “He’s always speaking to me,” Dipper says.

“Just listen to my voice,” Norman says. “I’ll tell you things.”

This is exactly what Norman does: He tells Dipper about his childhood, back in Blithe Hollow. He had a dead grandmother who was also his best friend. He had many adventures, all of which involved poltergeist. He tells Dipper of the time when zombies swarmed the town and about the little girl Aggie, whom Norman was able to reunite with her mother. He tells Dipper about high school and how everyone seemed to forget about all that had happened. He tells Dipper about getting into university, seeing Dipper for the first time, thinking Dipper was one of the cutest people he’s ever seen.

Norman hopes he’s drowned out the voice once Dipper stops trembling and falls asleep.

Perhaps, Norman thinks, he can actually fix this. Throughout the night, Dipper sleeps peacefully. Norman falls asleep much later, though he first plants a kiss on Dipper’s cheek, something he has never done before. It doesn’t please his heart to see Dipper like this at all, and if staying by Dipper’s side will help him in any way, Norman will do it.

 

+++

 

The next day, Norman wakes up to Dipper shaking him awake. When he opens his eyes, he sees Dipper dressed to go to the woods – a cap, a windbreaker, jeans.

“C’mon, dude, we’re going exploring,” Dipper says. “For old time’s sake.”

Norman raises his eyebrow, but who is he to disagree. He immediately washes up, takes his flannel button-up, a jacket, and jeans, before he goes off to wherever Dipper takes him.

Get a fairy to speak with them: That is the random mission for the day. Although, one must admit that fairies are difficult to come by, so getting one to speak might be extra challenging.

Norman has yet to figure out how exactly to trigger a fairy to make an appearance. Dipper says they are everywhere, just not visible to the naked human eye. Dipper has theories: That you had to have a certain level of concentration in order to see them; that there might be certain words that they enjoy hearing. Nothing is confirmed.

When Norman asks the ghosts in the woods about the fairies, they say that they see the little creatures every day, floating about in groups. Dipper surmises that fairy appearances may have something to do with death and decay, though he is very much stumped as to how that might be so.

They later decide to split up. It is four in the afternoon and the sun is faint, so Norman holds a flashlight in order to see. He is not exactly sure of what he’s supposed to look for, though Dipper did tell him, with much exclamation: “ _Keep an eye on the trees_.”

So Norman moves around looking for any tree that might have anything odd. After some time, Norman runs into Elizabeth, the old ghost woman always lying on the forest ground, arms stretched, eyes forever transfixed. She tells him to scram and if he wants to see a fairy, he should look for the tree with the yellow flowers and the red trunk.

It is a good enough lead for him to try and look for Dipper again.

The sound of the woods in the afternoon is just as eerie as it would be at any time of day. The chirps of the birds are faint; Norman feels as if every crack of a twig means he’s actually being followed.

“Dipper!” Norman goes, hands in his jacket pockets as he maneuvers through the trees. “Dipper, hey! I think I’ve got something!”

“Over here!” Dipper says.

Norman shifts his head around until he sees a small, circular light, eastward. He follows it, and hears Dipper humming a tune that Norman cannot place.

From where Norman stands, Dipper’s figure appears to be all black, though Norman can tell that his head is down and his gaze is fixed on something in his hands – perhaps the notebook he’d brought to the woods.

Norman hears something, apart from the continuing hum. It’s a drumming noise. With every step he takes, each and every time his shoe lands on the ground, the beat reverberates in his ears. Norman stops in his tracks and grabs his chest. The noise, he realizes, is his heart.

“Norman! I think I’ve got something! There’s some writing on this tree!” someone goes, but Norman looks at the figure in the darkness and sees that it has not moved an inch.

When he turns, it is almost as if time has gone slower. Towards another direction, he sees another flickering light.

He turns again, back to the figure standing still.

The beating intensifies. The hum grows louder. Norman has to close his eyes and concentrate.

_This is nothing. Just a ghost. Messing with you. You’ve dealt with worse, Norman Babcock. You’ve dealt with worse._

Once Norman opens his eyes, he is taken aback.

“Who—”

He asks who, but he does not actually mean it. It is obvious who it is. The Dipper in blue stands before him, face blank, only staring.

But from behind him, from afar, Norman still hears: “Dude, where have you gone?”

That is something he would like to know himself. Norman feels as if he’s floating, though at the same time, he cannot move.

The face of the Dipper in front of him contorts into a sinister smile.

“Hello,” Dipper goes, and yes, it’s Dipper’s voice, but Norman knows quite well that this is not Dipper at all.

Norman still cannot move, no matter how much he wants to. His heartbeat has only become louder and faster.

“I’m sorry for what I have to do now,” the Dipper in blue says, and lifts up his hand, grabs Norman’s face.

The hand shakes. It stings. It burns him. Norman is certain that this is how he dies: in the hands of a Dipper he does not know, one whose arms are inscribed with letters he cannot read, one whose grip is literal fire, glowing blue.

Norman is certain that this is how he dies, because as soon as the blue light shrouds him, everything disappears. Everything is darkness.

There is nothing but black. He is nothing but a soul, floating in the void. His own death has never been something he constantly feared, but as Norman floats, regret floats along with him, and so does sadness, along with images of Dipper with that gleam in his eye as he writes down something new on his journal; of his mother, his father, and sister back home, living their lives in constant normality; of Dipper again, with a faint smile, a light flush on his cheeks.

Suddenly, Norman feels like he can breathe again.

And suddenly, he does. He breathes as if he has just been electrified.

Norman is sitting on his bed in the shack, alone, the world around him quiet. He pants.

_A dream?_

_I’m not—The house isn’t—_

The attic has not been burned to its cinders. Norman’s parents smile at him through the picture on his bedside table. The bookshelf is there, and so are all his books and DVDs. His laptop is by his feet, and he remembers that is the last place he put it before the fire erupted.

Norman gets on his feet, trying to make sure that all his body parts do actually work. He stares at his feet, his fingers, his palms, his hands. “I’m not dead…”

“No, you are not. Unfortunately.”

The voice, undoubtedly, is Dipper’s, but when Norman sees whom the words actually come from, the fear that has built inside him starts to overflow. The Dipper in blue is in Norman’s room. He stands by the door, arms crossed, face in a dark expression.

“But you will be.” There’s a smile that comes to Dipper’s face when he says this. “I only have to work a little harder to get into your world and I’m sure I can arrange your death very, very quickly.”

“Who are you?” Norman says, and a gulp follows.

“You know exactly who I am. I’m Dipper. You know, the guy you dote on every single day. We make a very cute—uh—couple? Well I guess we’re not on that level yet, aren’t we?” He chuckles, draws himself nearer and nearer to Norman. “Time’s a-ticking Norman Babcock. I can give you a few days, you know, since our love story still hasn’t come to sweet, sweet fruition.”

“I—I won’t let you do this.” Norman takes a step back.

Again, he chuckles. He stands very close, and in a familiar gesture, he lifts up one hand.

“I’m giving you a few days, alright? Nothing more.”

Norman knows what’s coming: the burning on his skin, the hand that feels like a flame.

When Norman opens his eyes once again, he’s lying on the forest ground.

“Norman!” He hears the quick footsteps of Dipper coming to get him and it’s music to Norman’s ears.

He tries to sit up, but his muscles betray him. Dipper kneels down beside him.

“Can’t—stand—“ Norman’s voice has turned hoarse.

“Jesus—what happened to you?” Dipper puts a hand at the back of Norman’s head and places another on Norman’s arm. Norman looks up to see Dipper’s same old face and same old arms without the language of demons. He has never thought that Dipper’s brown curls and the curve of Dipper’s lips have ever looked as beautiful as they do now.

“Was it some sort of monster?” Dipper asks. “A fairy? Please tell me you didn’t faint at the sight of a fairy.”

Norman shakes his head, closes his eyes, and thinks of the appropriate thing to say.

“Had a nightmare,” Norman says, and breathes. “But it felt very, very real.”

 

+++

 

Nothing could have stopped what was about to come.

But Norman sees that Dipper is trying his best to do something about it.

When they go to the shack, they discover that things in the basement have been left unharmed, as Uncle Ford built it to be fireproof. The structure of the portal is still intact, until Dipper grabs a hammer and smashes dent after dent into the metal.

Dipper searches all his notes, hoping to find something on how to close rifts in time and space. He ends up ripping out page after page, not caring about the mess he is creating.

He searches through an old journal, where spells and incantations are written. Norman has never seen the book before and advises Dipper against it. Still, Dipper persists and screams out any lines that he deems useful.

Norman stands by him the whole time, feeling utterly useless.

Dipper ends up curling up in a corner, knees bent to his chest. He sobs, tears like waterfalls.

“C’mon, Dipper. We have to go.” Norman squats down and holds Dipper’s shoulder, calm. “Let’s not waste our time.”

 

+++

 

They are at the motel and Norman knows Dipper cannot be alone. “I’ll go to bed with you,” Norman says as he helps Dipper remove his windbreaker and shoes. At that moment, he is sure that Dipper wants the same thing, because he takes Norman’s hands and caresses them.

“I’m thinking you should,” Dipper says.

They walk to the bed and Dipper lies down first, pushing his back against the pillows. He stares at Norman with his tear-stricken eyes and nibbles his lip.

Norman leans down to kiss him, body hovering over Dipper’s. This very first kiss makes Norman feel stronger than he has very felt. The bed then creaks as Norman moves to kiss Dipper’s neck. Arms circle around Norman’s back; soft whimpers escape Dipper’s mouth. The light in the room is as good as gone because everything around Norman blurs and Dipper is the only one visible.

As Dipper slips off his wrinkled shirt, Norman starts to unbutton his own, eyes continuing to brood. Dipper is exposed and he starts to look flushed because of it. Norman sits upright and looks at him. He runs a hand against Dipper’s stomach.

“You’re amazing,” Norman says.

When his shirt is finally off, Norman leans back down to plant kisses on Dipper’s cheek, stormy kisses on Dipper’s lips.

They go through the night like this, with Norman willing himself to breathe as Dipper trembles underneath him, with Norman unrelenting as he hopes to make Dipper melt in his touch.

He wants to feel that Dipper will always be here. He will never let this go, he resolves, ultimately. No matter what forces are trying to break this apart, Norman is positive that he will be able to crush them all and beat them to dust.

 

++

 

Which is exactly what he does on the day that Dipper’s body is taken over.

It happens very suddenly, one morning. Dipper is nowhere to be seen in their room and Norman wakes up very, very cold.

Almost simultaneously, all of Norman’s friends appear in the bedroom.

“You guys are willing to help me right?” he asks all the ghosts floating around him, who are asking him what had happened, because they also feel unnerved, as if their souls are being torn apart.

Norman knows now that this is the reason he had to be killed. No one else would be able to match the Dipper in blue. No one else would be able to tear apart a soul in this world and hurl them into another.

“This is dangerous, don’t you think?” the ghost of the man in a lab coat says.

“I don’t really know what is happening, but all I know is that I am up for it,” says another ghost, Elizabeth from the woods. “But I do hope you know what you’re doing, my dear.”

“You’re helping me get a guy to burn in hell. I’m sure you’ll all be able to manage.”

Norman sees the blue fireworks above. From where he stands, he can tell that it is coming from the house of the Gleefuls.

“Gravity Falls!”

The voice resounds throughout the town. People who still remain in the streets look around to check where the voice comes from, but they are unable to locate it.

“The Dipper Gleeful magic show is about to begin! Everyone grab on to their seats!”

Everyone murmurs, “What seats? What seats is he talking about?”

Norman cocks up an eyebrow, “Dipper Gleeful?”

“I need everyone to look west! Yes, there! All of you look! Do you see it? Yes, it is the office of Mayor Northwest!”

The townspeople, gullible as they are, all turn to look at the direction pointed out to them.

In one fell swoop, the black metal fences to city hall levitate; the leaves from the trees swerve around the building; fire engulfs the structure. In one fell swoop, it all disappears.

This is only the beginning, as Dipper Gleeful’s magic ransacks the town: breaks the glasses of shop windows, pulls roofs off into the sky, and sends people into screams and mania. Norman shouts and tells everyone to go into their houses, leave, or just flat out run, because no one is safe.

The sky has turned pitch black. Norman shouts and calls for him. The ghosts are still, for now.

“I’m going to end you!” Norman screams, beckoning.

Norman stands in the middle of the town, as everyone retreated to the safety of their homes. The sky is pitch black, and then it isn’t. It turns into an electric blue. Norman stands and glares at the Dipper in front of him, a man dressed in the same color as the sky. The eyes of the Dipper in blue are green and menacing.

At that moment, Norman is more than ready to tear a soul apart.

It is all a blur in his memory. Norman remembers being overcome with power. His eyes burn and his blood boils. Dipper Gleeful is grabbed by the neck as the ghosts circle around him in a tornado of green. He puts up a fight by hurling thunder down from the sky, but Norman has ensured his failure. Gleeful’s eyes have turned blue and Norman’s have turned green. Looking back, Norman thinks he’s probably been wasting a bit of Dipper’s time, because Norman recognizes now that he has held a key to parallel worlds all this time. It’s all been in his eyes. He just never wanted to acknowledge it.

“I have to put in all this work just for you,” Norman says, when it all ends. He is down on his knees, dizzy, as he looks at Dipper Gleeful’s body, barely breathing but still alive.

“Oh, Dipper,” goes the voice of a woman. Norman cannot tell if the person who utters the words is near or far, because his senses have gone weak.

There are footsteps. Someone walks past him. He sees a woman with the same brown hair as Dipper’s, but longer. She also wears a blue coat, a frilly white shirt, along with a skirt that swings as she takes each step. When she draws near enough to the unconscious body, she kneels down and holds Dipper’s face by the cheeks. Norman’s body starts to feel colder than it already does.

“…Mabel?” Norman goes, when it finally clicks. He hears a chuckle from the woman.

“Sorry for the mess,” she says, without meeting Norman’s gaze, before she disappears, along with Dipper Gleeful.

This is when everything turns dark and Norman’s body gives in.

When he does wake up, it is still dark, but he no longer feels cold. He notices that the ghosts are all around him, walking along to the steps of a man who carries Norman through the empty road. The smell of his hair isn’t ideal at all, but at least, Norman thinks, his back is warmer than anything he has ever felt.

Dipper is back in this world, but Norman sees this only for a moment. No matter how much Norman wants to speak, he cannot. Norman falls out of consciousness yet again.

 

++

 

Days go by before Norman finds the heart to reply to the letter. At first he starts with _Dipper_ and places a colon at the end of the word, but Norman feels that it is too impersonal. _To whom this may concern?_ But that ends up sounding all the more impersonal. _Dear Dipper_ doesn’t seem right at all. _Hey Dipper? Yo Dipper?_ Norman finds himself sitting in his study, thinking about this more than he should be. He only settles for something after more than two hours of thinking.

 

++

 

Norman writes the letter and feels his blood pumping by the end of it.

_“Dearest:_

_I used to think we’d both be happier if we never heard from each other ever again. But here I am, writing this, because I want to and you asked me to._

_I remember what I told you the last day we saw each other. I told you that it’s dangerous for you and I to be together, given the things that might happen, given that I’m pretty much a key to a door we never want to open again. I told you we’re better off as far away from each other as possible. You looked very sad when I said this. Please know that I took no pleasure in seeing you sad. I like you too much to want that._

_I’ve thought of emailing you or giving you a call, from time to time, but I know it would breach the deal I made myself. Though now it looks like I’m talking to you through a handwritten letter, and really, dude, what got into you? You know handwritten letters are things of the past, right? Sorry. But it’s true!_

_The reason I’m writing this letter, other than as a reply, is to explain the decision I’ve recently made._

_I’ll be ironing out a few things at work. It might take a few weeks, but I think it’ll be fine. Then, as soon as possible, I’ll be buying tickets for a plane to California._

_If you think you’re the only who’s been driven nuts by this whole thing, you are very wrong. And if you think I have any objections to the things you are doing, well, yeah, that is totally true, but keep on doing them, so we’ll have something to talk about when we see each other._

_I really can’t wait to see you, Dipper. Please wait for me. I’ll be there soon!_

_With love,_

_Norman_

 

_P.S. I tried my best to find the very same stationery you used at Barnes and Noble. I kind of like it. I don’t know why you wouldn’t admit to buying it. You’re nothing but a dork, Dipper Pines. Please do not change.”_

**|**

for me love’s like the wind unseen, unknown  
I see the trees are bending where it’s been  
I know that it leaves wreckage where it’s blown  
I really don’t know what I love you means  
I think it means don’t leave me here alone

**(Dark Sonnet, by Neil Gaiman)**

**|**

**end.**


End file.
